A 12-YEAR old girl is among a group of microlight pilots preparing to take part in a commemoration of the first flight across the English Channel later this month.

Enlli Farrow will join her father Nick in their two-seater aircraft on the flight to France. They will be among than 500 of the small aircraft flying from Calais to Dover to commemorate the centenary of the journey made by Louis Bleriot.

The Frenchman successfully made the first flight across a large body of water in a heavier-than-aircraft on July 25, 1909 to win the prize of £1,000.

He flew the 22-mile trip from Calais to Dover in 37 minutes.

The intrepid aviators from North Wales will take under an hour to make the trip as they have to fly to an airstrip at Headcorn near Maidstone instead of landing on the cliffs at Dover.

Nick, who last year made a marathon flight around Wales in a microlight, said: “We’ll travel to France, spend a few days in northern France before taking part in this commemorative flight.”

They will join their friends Tim Jones from Deiniolen and university lecturer Shaun McLernanan and 120 UK-based microlights in Calais for the flight.

Tim said: “We’ll take off in waves, five aircraft every minute so it will take all 500 aircraft about two hours to make the trip.

“I am looking forward to going to France to commemorate the first crossing by Louis Bleriot who had the guts to fly on a wing an a prayer across the Channel,” he said.